1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to granules for application to the leaf surface, and to a process for their preparation. The invention furthermore relates to the use of these granules for foliar penetration or the formulation of baits.
2. Description of Related Art
Plant protection products are usually applied as spray mixtures, which means that the formulation of the active substance is sprayed onto the leaf surfaces of plants in the form of a liquid system or a spray. However, the handling of spray mixtures is complicated, requires specialist equipment and is not user-friendly. What is more, the result of spray drift is that not only the area to be treated is sprayed, but droplets of the plant protection formulations also arrive in an uncontrolled manner in adjacent areas. To avoid these spray drifts, and to make the handling and the use of crop protection products safer, simpler and more user-friendly, the plant protection products should therefore preferably be applied in the form of granules in order to simultaneously improve the public acceptance of the use of plant protection products.
Agrochemical granules furthermore have the advantage that they are readily discernible after application of the granules so that one can see whether a field has been treated or not. Moreover, the use of granules comprising agrochemical active substances is simpler than the use of corresponding aqueous or emulsion-containing solutions.
The disadvantage to date of the use of granules comprising agrochemical active substances is that a multiplicity of agrochemical active substances only have a biological effect when they are applied directly to the leaf surface and taken up by the plant via foliar penetration. The granules known to date are unsatisfactory in this respect since the granules known to date do not adhere to the leaf surfaces upon application.